The present invention relates to a medication dispensing apparatus which contains a plurality of different kinds of medication (in this application the terms medication and medicament are used interchangeably) separately, dispenses the medicament to pack them into a package belt, and discharges the package belt, as well as a medication collecting system in which a medication dispensing station comprising the medication dispensing apparatus is disposed along a conveyor line and by which medication discharged from the medication dispensing station is placed onto a tray conveyed along the conveyor line and then collected.
It is an idea disseminated in the 1960s in Japan that medication may be packaged in dosages and delivered to patients. This idea has been put into practical use mainly as packaging machines for powdered medicines. Tablet machines were developed in 1970s, and ampoule dispensing machines were developed in 1990s. These machines have been used in different ways according to their respective proper applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,692 discloses an apparatus in which a plurality of preparation stations classified according to the type of medication are arranged along a conveyor line and in which medicaments prepared at the individual preparation stations are collected to a checking station by the conveyor line. This apparatus prepares medicaments for the time period described in the prescription and delivers the medicaments to the patient.
In recent years, there has been developed an idea that medicaments prescribed to one patient are all collected regardless of the type of medicament and provided to the patient. This idea has been put into U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/021,864, the assignee of which is the same as one of the assignees of the present application.
In America, medicaments for one-day doses to be administered to inpatients are placed in a packaged box in the dispensary, and the box is stored in a movable medication storage cabinet, for example, MEDSTATION marketed by Pyxis Co. With the medication storage cabinet provided in the nurse station, when the medicament administration time comes, medicaments are taken out from the medication storage cabinet and administered to patients. Upon completion of the medicament administration for one-day doses, the medication storage cabinet is returned to the dispensary. The medication storage cabinet in which medicaments for the next day have been stored is then moved to the nurse station. By adopting such a system, clear histories of the administration to the patients can be obtained, allowing accounting, medicament inventory management and the like to be carried out collectively.
However, medicaments, particularly tablets, for one-day doses are packaged in the form of a continuous package belt. The package belt comprises a medication package portion in which one dose of tablet is packed, a print portion in which patient information, medicament information, dosage information and the like are printed, and an empty package portion which is inserted between different patients. This package belt arrangement necessitates troublesome work such as separating off medication packages for each patient or for each dose, or cutting off empty packages. In particular, in the case of, for example, medicaments to be ordered in operation rooms, CPUs, or emergency departments, it is desired that such work as the separation of medication packages and the cutoff of empty packages be achieved promptly for subsequent delivery of the medicaments.
The present invention having been accomplished in view of these and other problems, an object of the invention is to provide a medication collecting system which is capable of automatically and promptly achieving the separation of medication packages in the medication package belt and the cutoff of empty packages.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a medication dispensing apparatus which contains a plurality of different kinds of medication separately, dispenses the medicament to pack them into package belt, and discharges the package belt, comprising:
cutting means for cutting the package belt into shortened package belts including at least one medication package for a specified period in accordance with prescription data;
stacking means for stacking the short package belts; and
bundling means for bundling the stacked short package belts.
The present invention also provides a medication collecting system, comprising:
a tray feed station for accumulating a plurality of empty trays and feeding the trays to a conveyor line;
a medication dispensing station for containing a plurality of different kinds of medication separately, dispensing the medicament to pack them into package belt, and discharging the package belt into the tray fed to the conveyor line from the tray feed station; and
a tray recovering station for recovering the tray containing the package belt discharged from the medication dispensing station and for sorting the trays;
wherein the medication dispensing station comprises;
cutting means for cutting the package belt into shortened package belts including at least one medication package for a specified period in accordance with prescription data;
stacking means for stacking the short package belts; and
bundling means for bundling the stacked short package belts.
With the medication dispensing apparatus and the medication collecting system having the above constitutions, the separation of medication packages in the medication package belt and the cutoff of empty packages can be achieved automatically and promptly so that medication delivery work in the hospital-can be reduced.
Preferably, the cutting means cuts the package belt into short package belts including medication packages taken at a day or at a time. Also, preferably, the short package belt cut by the cutting means includes at least one printed empty package and at least one medication package. Further, preferably, the cutting means cuts the empty package included in the package belt and the stacking means stacks the short package belts excluding the empty package.
Preferably, the medication dispensing station further includes: separating means for separating empty packages from the bundled short package belts; and means for putting the bundled short package separated by the separating means into the tray fed to the conveyor line.
The medication collecting system may further comprise a liquid medication dispensing station for containing a plurality of different kinds of liquid medication or ampoules separately, dispensing the liquid medicament, and discharging the liquid medicament into the tray fed to the conveyor line from the tray feed station.